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𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 : 𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒

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I dreamt of Ace again later that week.

He stood on the edge of a cliff I was far too familiar with, his back to me. I could feel the breeze moving through the trees and I could hear the creek or whatever was far below the cliff. I had never looked over the edge during the daytime, I wouldn't know if it was a creek or rocks waiting for me at the bottom.

I approached him slowly and didn't get the chance to reach him before he spun around, spewing black blood that felt like acid against my skin and stunk like it was already rotten. He gurgled and groaned, blood foaming at his mouth and he spoke only a few words before I woke up in a cold sweat.

"I'm coming and you'll finally be dead."

I clutched at my chest, taking in deep breaths as I settled my heart rate and laid back down. Looking over, I checked the clock and sighed at the time. Only three in the morning. By the time I fell asleep again, I found myself with Ace again on the cliff.

Everything was the same, even the demon blood leaking out from the corners of his mouth and down from his eyes like thick, running mascara. He didn't seem bothered to see me this time around and it felt more natural as I came to stand beside him.

"Not so scared now, are you?" he asked, stuffing both hands into his pockets.

"Is this real?" I asked instead, giving him a curious glance. It felt real, more real than the first dream tonight and the one I had last week.

"It's as real as you want it to be," he replied with a shrug. He scuffed his feet against the grass and peered over the edge. "We can jump, if you'd like."

"Why would we want to do that?"

"To see if this is all real."

I shook my head, taking a precautionary step backwards as I said, "So, you going to tell me why you keep showing up covered in blood?"

He continued to scuff at the ground, kicking up grass and mud with the toe of his boot. He seemed like himself, even the mole under his eye was the same as far as I could see through the thick blood. It seemed that my consciousness was playing on the idea Crow had presented me.

"Ace?"

He looked up and met my stare. "Blood is a gateway into a person," he murmured, reaching out a hand as if to touch me but stopping and letting his arm fall back to his side. "Cage works with blood in the form of geatas, it's similar here." He ran his fingers down his face, smearing the black before looking at it coating his hand. "A simple spell and poof, we're here together."

"This is real, then?"

He shrugged. "As real as you make it."

"But is it truly real?"

He looked out towards the vast emptiness at the bottom of the cliff before nodding. "These types of geatas can drain someone, mentally and physically. It's hard to maintain if you're not strong enough."

"And are you?" I asked. "Strong enough?"

"When I want to be," he shot me a smirk. His eyes seemed brighter here, more blue than I had ever seen before. He looked almost childlike, his face softer, his demeanor not as strict or rigid. He was different here in the dream.

"You keep saying I'm going to die," I said, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jacket. I didn't even remember wearing it but suddenly it was covering my arms with it's leather warmth.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Soon."

"Soon?"

"Blaire."

"Ace."

He matched my glare and snarled, "We're all going to die, it's nature's way of reaping what we sow. By the end of all this, you'll be dead. That's it. That's history."

"But how I die is what I need to know." I narrowed my eyes. "And you know how."

He smiled again. "Of course I do."

"But you're not going to tell me."

"Of course I'm not."

I looked away from him, taking another step away before turning around entirely. The wind blew past me and this time it wasn't cold, it was warm like humid weather was fighting to come through the front.

"I remember you being nicer," I muttered, glaring at the back of his head.

"And I remember you being weaker but we all change, Blaire. We're not stagnant creatures."

My hands curled into fists and I could feel the pain as I dug my nails into my palm. I could feel it as if I were awake. The soft sting that would be followed by a puckered soreness. "Ace, where are you even? You disappeared that night and I've been worried. I–" I shook my head, glad he was still facing the cliff not to see my face. "–I needed you. I needed your help. Both you and John."

"We're away on business," said Ace, his voice muffled by the wind. "We've got things we need to do before we can return."

"What business?"

"Demon shit, you know."

"At least tell me where you are," I said, "tell John to give me a call, anything."

Ace sighed. "He's busy."

"Well, we're all fucking busy," I snapped back, scowling. "If you've forgotten, the devil is coming and he's out for blood so tell John to give me a goddamn call."

"He won't like that."

"Tough."

Ace turned to look at me and for a moment, I swore I could've seen the boy I'd known but it vanished underneath the blood, like it always does. "We'll come back when you're ready to die."

"Wha–"

His face turned to a scowl, mimicking my own. "Stop calling. Stop trying to reach us."

"Ace, what the hell are you–"

He reached out and grabbed me by the arm and said in a snarl, "I know who killed her."

The world around us fell away and one moment I was on the cliff and in the next dizzying second I was sitting up in bed clutching my chest, Pandora's name on my lips like a scream.

He knew, he knew, he knew.

I was coated in a thin layer of sweat, my legs sticking together underneath the covers that were twisted around my limbs. It was a quarter to seven and I pushed myself to the edge of the bed, freeing myself from my warm cocoon.

There was something wrong with Ace, it was obvious in the way he spoke and acted in the dreams. I clenched my fist, feeling a strain in my palm and I peeled my hand open, staring down at the crescent moons I'd left punctured into my skin. It seemed that things that happen in those strange dream geatas happened in real life.

There was dark blood underneath my fingernails as I caught a glance at them as I turned the light on in my small guest room. I found that it wasn't just underneath my nails as I turned and saw the pool of blood smeared across the sheets I'd once been tangled in. I had the blood running down my legs, twisted up in my shirt and shorts and I stumbled backwards, my heart leaping out of my chest.

I fell into the bathroom, fumbling for the light switch and saw the horror facing me in the mirror, a small cry escaping me.

It wasn't very Carrie but I had blood soaked through my clothes as if I'd taken a single dip into a hot tub or a pool. I was mortified to see that my feet had left small footprints behind me across the carpet and I dreaded the moment Crow would see the mess I'd somehow made.

I inspected my body for wounds and found nothing but smooth skins. There was no pain here besides the slight dizziness. I turned the faucet on with a shaky hand, letting the water warm when I heard my bedroom door open and a worried voice called out to me before stopping.

"I heard a yell, Blaire are you–oh my god. What the hell happened to my sheets?"

I looked up in the mirror, seeing Crow behind me with a worried expression across his face and a hand moving through his hair. It seemed that was a nervous tick for him. "Uh–"

His eyes searched my face and then rolled down my body where he rushed out with, "Did someone stab you?" He moved forward, going to grab my arm and inspect me for some external injury when I tore myself back.

"I woke up to this," I said, moving to run my hands under the warm water. "I feel completely fine, besides, it's not that much blood."

"It's all over my carpet," he said, bending down and I felt his finger run down the back of my calf and I flinched away with a snappy, "Hey!"

He stood, moving the little smear of blood he'd gathered between his finger and thumb. "It's fresh."

"It must've started after I fell asleep." I tried my now clean hands on the towel as I moved to stand on the tile instead of the small mat. "Which is what I need to talk to you about."

He gave me a puzzled look over his shoulder as he went into the bedroom to start pulling the blankets off the bed.

"I had a dream about Ace," I said, careful of where I leaned against the wall. "Actually, I had two dreams about him."

"And the blood started when?"

"The second."

He nodded, throwing the comforter to the floor in a careful pile. "And what were you and him doing in the dream? Stabbing each other?"

I narrowed my eyes. "No. We were having a conversation."

Crow let out an exasperated sound, giving me a look as he asked, "About what?"

"Well," I murmured, rubbing my cold arm, "it seems that he doesn't want him and John to be found anytime soon unless I'm ready to...uh, die."

"Blaire."

"What!"

"I think it's time you start accepting that Ace isn't the boy you thought you knew," he said, peeling the sticky sheet off of the bed, his hands already stained with red. He could sense my glare and continued with, "If you had stayed in that dream any longer, there was a chance you could have bled out without even knowing."

"He wouldn't have hurt me–"

"He already has."

He motioned to the bed and then to myself. I was being ridiculous in not believing him but I couldn't help myself, not when Ace had helped me so much. If he was bad, then why save me from Michael West? Why help with Conner? There were too many things contradicting what I knew and what Crow thought.

"He told me he doesn't want to be found," I whispered, shaking my head, "does that sound like a man wanting to hurt me?"

"More like a coward," supplied Crow. He wiped his hands against the cleanest part of the sheets as he tossed them into the pile. I hadn't realized, but he was wearing his pajamas and it seemed he had thrown on a shirt before entering my room because he had it on inside out but I wasn't going to tell him that. "Does this all mean you don't want to summon John?"

"Oh," I laughed, "no, we're still doing that."

"So you're just going to go against Ace's word?"

"Duh."

He ran a hand through his hair again and I noticed the way his shirt rose up just slightly to give me a daring peak at his midriff. I let my eyes fall on the pile instead to avoid him noticing my stare.

"Ace is being childish," I said with a shrug, justifying my reasoning because I felt as if I had too. "He says he's not going to come home until I'm dead or whatever, well, that's just not going to work. If he thinks this place isn't safe, I get it because it's not but that's really not going to stop me from reaching into whatever demon plane this is tapping into to force him home."

"And you think getting John here will do that?" he asked.

I nodded. "Him and John are best friends, he would have to follow him here once he realizes he's gone." I shrugged again. "I would've done the same for Pandora."

I'd follow her to the ends of the earth.

You will, one day. You will, you will, you will.

He nodded, a small smile coming to his lips. "Then everything is still going according to the plan. We'll be summoning him tonight."

"Do you think Ace coming to my dreams wasn't a coincidence?" I asked. "Like, he knew what we were going to attempt was trying to change my mind?"

He shrugged "Maybe." He bent down, picking up the pile and said as he stood back up, "Shower and I'll put these in the washer and start on the carpet." He gave me a long look like he was tired of wiping up blood caused by me and I only smiled.

"Sir, yes, sir."

~

I didn't need to do much to prepare for tonight besides making a decent meal for Crow, Blondie, and myself when he got back from the store and she finally came over. I had pasta boiling on the stove and sauce cooking on the side, a special sauce my mother had used to make for me. I loved it so much I forced her to teach it to me when I was younger and it had stuck.

I had one of the kitchen windows pushing open enough for me to sit by with a cigarette in my hand to keep the smoke and smell from traveling too far into the house. The sauce hid most of the deathly smell but not quite enough.

I inhaled slowly, feeling the smoke and nearly picturing it spinning and floating inside my lungs before I exhaled. It left a dizzy feeling in my head which was what I was trying to achieve. I needed to be calm, I needed to be ready.

John is coming home tonight whether he likes it or not. I need my friends home. I need my allies.

The oven beeped behind me and I rested my cigarette in the window sill to jump up and put the garlic bread inside, setting a timer and going back to my cigarette but not before stirring the sauce once or twice.

I felt so suburban in these moments. Like a Victorian Era wife waiting for her husband to return from work, cooking for the breadwinner.

I looked down at what I was wearing. The dirty jeans, the shirt one size too big, and no shoes in sight. It wasn't very wifely but this wasn't the part I was destined to play. Would I even get married? Would I give up my body, my life, for a child?

I make it sound bad but I wasn't sure if it was ever something I wanted and with how things seem to be going now, it doesn't seem like I'll ever get it. What does one do in these situations? Should I freeze my eggs? Donate them?

You're nineteen, you shouldn't have to worry about these things.

Do I even have a will? Who will get all my belongings? Charity?

You shouldn't have to worry about this at all. You're still a kid, aren't you?

No.

No, you're really not.

I inhaled harder on my cigarette, feeling the little thing grow smaller in my hand before I was forced to kill it in a small dish I had found in the back of Crow's cabinet. It wasn't one I figured he'd mind me ruining.

Keeping the window open, I crossed back through the kitchen to finish up with the pasta, adding it to my cooking sauce. I heard a car pull up in the driveway and I caught a glimpse of Crow's car and him as he stepped out.

I pictured him there with a bundle of flowers in his hand, coming in to surprise his unsuspecting wife with a gift. I imagined him in a suit, like what we always wore, with his hair in his face as if he'd just run all the way to see me. It was a silly fantasy but it was one that seemingly calmed my nervous heart.

When the door opened, I was tempted to cry out, honey, you're home! Instead, it was him who spoke first with a surprised tone.

"You're making dinner?"

I turned, spoon in hand from transferring pasta to sauce. "Figured we needed to stock up with some good fuel before tonight." I gave him a perplexed look. "Why? Didn't think I'd make you dinner?"

"No," he said, shaking his head as he placed a grocery bag on the counter, "not that. I just didn't think you knew how to cook."

I elbowed him as he came up to stand beside me, reaching into the sauce to pull a noodle out and eating it even though I swatted at his hands with both my own and the spoon.

"What time is Cassandra arriving?"

"Shortly," I responded, checking the time on the oven and seeing four minutes left. "Did you get everything we needed?"

He nodded, pointing to the bag which I'd like to state was a reusable one.

I turned back to the food. "Are you ever going to tell me what all you had to get?"

"I'm hoping you'll never have to do what we're going to tonight," he confessed, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"I'm basically a demon hunter at this point, I think I should know how to summon a demon," I said, "don't you think?"

He sniffed the air. "Were you smoking earlier?"

"That's not answering my question."

"And that's not answering mine."

I sighed, rolling my eyes as I motioned to the small dish in the window. "I smoked one, why? You want one too or are you going to condemn my bad habits?"

"I'll actually take one," he said, rolling his eyes. "Aren't you forgetting? We have the same vices, sweetheart."

I rolled my eyes at the pet name even though it sent a ripple over my skin. "They're in my bag."

I saw him move out of the corner of my eye. He grabbed my bag from across the table, bringing it into his lap and finding my cigarettes and lighter quickly. His hand faltered for a moment before he reached inside and pulled out my knife.

"You've really outta put this in something," he said, holding the knife up to reflect in the kitchen light. "It would be a shame if I accidentally exorcised myself when I needed a cigarette."

"I usually keep it in my jacket," I said as the timer went off and I grabbed an oven mitt to take out the bread.

"Aren't you even curious about the magic behind the knife?" he asked, holding it sideways to read the inscription. "Spiorad. The great demon blade."

"It's not something that important to me, I guess," I said with a shrug. "If it protects me and gets the job done then I don't care."

He nodded slowly, slipping it back inside the bag and pushing it away from him. From outside a car rolled to a stop besides his and I smiled, turning to watch Blondie get out of the car and pull out her phone. Right on cue, my phone chimed and I motioned with my head to the door as I spoke.

"Go open it for her, will ya?"

He didn't say anything but he stood, cigarette in his mouth. He opened the door and before lighting the coffin nail, he said, "Blaire's making dinner and we can get down to business soon."

"Making dinner right now?" asked Blondie, staring at me with narrowed eyes. "It's nearly midnight, Blaire."

"What? Are you telling me you're not hungry?" I scoffed, turning around to face her.

She wore a puffy pink coat, her hair pulled back into an effortlessly gorgeous ponytail. If I didn't know exactly what she was here for, I would've assumed she was getting ready to hit the slopes or take a walk in the snow. It hadn't actually occurred to me that it would be cold out, since it was practically Spring.

"Well, I'm starving but that's besides the point," she murmured, taking her coat off to reveal a simple blue sweater. She hung her coat on the back of one of the bar chairs before coming up next to me to look into the simmering pot of sauce and pasta. "Is it done already?"

"Just for you," I cooed, reaching past her and grabbing the bowls.

She took a bowl with a grin, her presence calming me even more than both Crow and the cigarette. "What time are we...you know."

I looked to Crow and he met my eyes, the smoking cigarette hanging from between his fingers. "Usually I'd say three but right after we eat should be fine."

"Three?" asked Blondie, scooping a good heaping of pasta into her bowl and reaching for a slice of garlic bread.

"It's the witching hour," I said with a grin. "Don't tell me you didn't know that? Ever seen any horror movie ever?"

"As disbelieving as this might sound," she said, grabbing a fork, "I don't particularly care for horror films."

"Well, they aren't exactly the best guide to these things so you're in the clear," said Crow as he stood to retrieve his own bowl.

I stepped to the side, allowing him space to serve himself as I said, "So it won't make any difference if we go in forty minutes versus doing this all at three?"

He shook his head, grabbing the parmesan cheese. "Not at all. Three is just standard but it's not like we're summoning a ghost where that could be of a vital aspect to the summoning."

"You can directly summon a ghost?" I asked as he grabbed a fork and rested it inside the bowl.

"Of course you can," he said before turning and offering me the bowl as he reached for the last one. I paused before taking it and he looked at me with a small smile and murmured, "The chef deserves to eat first."

I took the bowl and ignored the way our fingers grazed each other and the way his small offering made my stomach flutter more than the pet name. "Have you ever summoned a ghost?"

He shook his head. "That was all Cage's job. I don't have an affinity for spirits, unlike you, of course."

I nodded slowly, twirling my fork in the pasta before bringing it up to my mouth that was already salivating. I sat down at the table, scooting over to the open window, feeling the cool air against my back as I ate.

Crow sat down moments later, sliding a piece of garlic bread for me on a napkin. I smiled softly, feeling Blondie's eyes on me but I couldn't stop the way I was feeling. It was always so easy with him, now that we were on the same side like we should've been from the beginning.

It was so mundane. So natural. So...homey.

My little fantasy spun about in my head like a bundle of delusions.

Hello husband of mine, the little ghosts in my head said with a smile. Say hello to your wife, the necromancer.

eeeeeee i think there are going to b only 2 more chapters in this act!!! AHHHHHH the final act......is so good yall....i already know what's going to happen and it's just perfect

vote/comment and ill ask for your hand in marriage!!!! <333